Is Cholesterol A Scam?

The cholesterol narrative has been oversimplified and exploited for profit, not health. In this article we review the science behind cholesterol and include common sense analysis to provide another view of this essential nutrient.

Cholesterol is Essential

Every single cell in your body has cholesterol in the cell membrane. Cholesterol is essential for digestion, hormone synthesis, and vitamin D absorption. You can't survive without cholesterol.

High cholesterol is often found in unhealthy people, but correlation isn't causation. Cholesterol is the fireman, not the fire. The "high cholesterol = heart disease" link is overstated and other factors like insulin resistance play bigger roles in heart disease.

You've Been Lied To

Healthy foods like eggs have been demonized and replaced with processed sugary cereals labeled as "heart healthy" when their ingredients could not be worse! The American Heart Association claims that Honey Nut Cheerios are healthier for you than organic pasture-raised eggs. Let's read the ingredients.

Does that sound heart-healthy to you? Well, it has 3 different forms of sugar and unhealthy omega-6 oils (they don't even know if it's rice bran oil or canola oil because it's so processed). Unfortunately, government organizations that are supposed to protect us are actually working for the unhealthy food companies! These "health" organizations promote a lie that eggs are unhealthy, but in fact they're one of the healthiest foods on this planet. Just look at all they contain:

Multiple studies as far back as the 1970s and as recent as 2024 have shown that eating 24-35 eggs per day does not raise blood cholesterol. Yet, the average doctor tells you to avoid eggs because they have cholesterol, but ignore the multifarious essential nutrients eggs contain.

Big Pharma Educates Doctors

Drug companies educate doctors, and doctors are the customers of Big Pharma. Pharmaceutical companies provide financial support for continuing education programs, events, and conferences.

Doctors receive almost zero classes on nutrition and exercise. The average medical student receives only 19 hours of nutrition education over 4 years, so they're far from nutrition experts [Source]. Doctors are taught drugs and surgery, not nutrition and exercise.

Big Pharma Pays for Science

In 2019, the pharmaceutical industry spent $83 billion on research and development and over 75% of FDA-approved drugs are fully funded by pharmaceutical companies. Big Pharma decides what science to fund and they implement the best practices doctors are required to follow. If a doctor doesn’t follow the accepted standard of care by the industry, they get sued.

Most of the scientific studies have the desired outcome set before they begin the study, and if the result is different from what they want, they remove future funding.

Big Pharma is Corrupt

Since the year 2000, pharmaceutical companies have paid over 100 billion dollars of fines after being found guilty of breaking the law in over 1,000 different cases. Do you really trust these criminals to have your best interest at heart? These are immoral companies who value profit over your life.

Big Pharma's Big Money Solution: Statins

Pharmaceutical companies earn over $15 billion per year from selling statins, which are the primary drug used to reduce cholesterol by artificially blocking the mevalonate pathway. 92 million Americans, or roughly 35% of American adults take statin drugs for cholesterol [Source] and this is a drug they say you need to take for the rest of your life. Talk about a profitable product!

Statins are the most profitable drug in history, but at least they work... right?

Unfortunately, no. The most promising study is the JUPITER study, funded by pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca, which showed a 0.35% reduction in heart attacks and a simultaneous 0.6% increase in diabetes associated with statin use.

The health benefits are practically non-existent and side effects occur in up to 30% of people who take these statin drugs [Sultan and Hynes 2013]. Multiple studies have shown zero benefit to taking statins, yet statins are prescribed broadly for heart disease, often ignoring individual risk factors [Source].

Statins can cause muscle pain, liver damage, an increased risk of diabetes [Source] and memory loss [Source].

Some studies have even shown higher LDL-C could be associated with longer survival, possibly due to cholesterol’s role in essential physiological functions (e.g., cell membrane integrity, hormone synthesis) or as a marker of better overall health (less frailty, malnutrition) [Source]. The science is far from settled on cholesterol, with new studies claiming higher cholesterol might be healthier for older adults [Source].

Unfortunately, the market for this incredibly profitable statin product is only growing over time because cholesterol guidelines are lower year on year to capture more profits. From 1988 to 2018, the recommended LDL goals for high-risk patients dropped from <130 mg/dL to as low as <70 mg/dL. Cholesterol varies greatly from person to person, yet these corrupt organizations are setting limits of what they deem to be the "ideal" cholesterol levels because it increases their potential clients. If there is a hypothetical norm for cholesterol, we don't know it.

What are We Missing?

Drugs do not solve problems, they simply mask the symptoms and relieve people of personal responsibility. It’s like seeing the service engine light on the dashboard of your car then instead of fixing the car you just remove the lightbulb.

All statins work by blocking your liver from making cholesterol, an essential nutrient, with the claim that this is good for us, but multiple side effects are associated with this. Doctors believe they can “cure” a person by isolating a point on the linear chemical process and either amplifying or dampening one of the steps. However, when you change one process, you affect everything.

Western medicine is still based in Newtonian physics, which explains the physical world in a linear process, but the human body functions in a quantum, or holistic, process where everything interacts simultaneously. Drugs are not specific; they affect different parts of the body differently. This is why there are so many unwanted side effects when you take a drug.

What to Do Instead?

Lifestyle changes address root causes like inflammation and metabolic syndrome better than statins. Eating a diet rich in protein and healthy omega-3 fats keeps your cells healthy. Avoiding processed sugars will keep you metabolically healthy and far away from diabetes. Cardiovascular and resistance training keep your muscles strong - and muscles are the organ of longevity!

This journey of learning about the statin drug market was almost overwhelming for me because I was shocked to discover both the profitability and ineffectiveness of these drugs. I would recommend staying far away from any drug until its effectiveness has been well established.

If you question your doctor about these drugs and they refuse to entertain your inquiries, find a new doctor. Look for someone who stresses lifestyle changes instead of pharmaceuticals.

I hope this helps! - Tom